1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a discreet removable chronological group indicator tab placed on a product at a predetermined depletion level and the method of the indicator. The tab will appear on the product when pulled from the dispenser to notify the consumer. The present invention relates to consumer products that have a predetermined depletion level where an indicator notifies one of the amounts of product left before the product is entirely depleted. It also has a process of placing the tab on the dispenser for future notification and recognition to aid in future replenishment and the advantages of a coupon to replenish the product.
2. Description of Related Art
When consumers come to the end of a box of facial tissue they don't know that they are running out of said product. They just take the last facial tissue with no indication that it is the last one. If there was a product quantity indicator tab that let the consumer know ahead of time they were running out of the product they could replace product without having the inconvenience of running out. The indicator tab would have a sticky adhesive substance that would stick to the product, but not ruin the product. The product quantity indicator tab would have the unit (say 10 tissues, 5 garbage bags, 10′ of foil left, etc.) amounts left in container. The indicator could be decorative and placed on the outside of container i.e. foil box, KLEENEX® box, or paper towel roll. It would also have the product brand name on it, which the consumer could place in wallet for the next time they go to shop for said product. From the standpoint of the manufacturer, the indicator element encourages and facilitates repetitive purchases by consumers of the same exact product, thus ensuring brand loyalty on the part of the consumer. Brand recognition is a plus for manufacturers and consumers. The indicator tab would have a coupon with a UPC on it to ensure more customer incentive for repeat purchases and brand.
Manufacturers have developed several indicating means for web wound products and plurality of substrate products, many include treating finished rolls to create a series of printing ink to the surface to create indicia, but as more of the surface becomes covered manufacturing costs increase. Some cultures have an aversion to allowing inks to touch food or food preparation surfaces. Additionally, as the quantity of ink on the product increases a proportional amount of bleeding onto items and countertops may occur. Some products may include indicia throughout the entire product, which is expensive to the manufacturers and has less of an impact as an indication of depletion to the consumer that the product is actually nearing depletion. There also have been numerous indicators for web roll products such as laser or embossed indicia, but to implement these indicators are more costly and evasive to produce on the product by the manufacturer and therefore to the consumer. Also, many of the indicators and/or indicia run throughout the entire product so there is not the ‘reminder’ element of necessity for replacement of the product. Many of the prior art products require a dispenser with its own gauge indicia, which will be more costly to the manufacturer. And, the knowledge that the product has been depleted to where it needs to be replaced within a certain amount of uses may have a propensity of being overlooked by the consumer on these products. The product quantity indicator tab would have the removable adhesive part of the tab that has the product's name and an attached UPC coupon which offers incentive for the consumer to replace said web product or interleaved substrates/flat folded sheets.
Also, numerous products use windows to show the quantity of product left, yet these windows are more expensive to the manufacturer and not reliable to the consumer to indicate the exact amount of product remaining.
Up to now those skilled in the art never appreciated the advantage of the invention, although it is inherent much of the prior art is too cumbersome, ineffective or too complicated. The invention solves a long-felt, long-existing, but unsolved need that consumers could easily have attainable with a removable product quantity indicator tab that will notify them of depletion levels before the product is depleted.
The applicant's invention solves a different problem which is the product quantity indicator is removable, hence more effective as a notifier to the consumer because it can be placed somewhere obvious to replace the product before depletion. The whole of the invention is greater than the sum of its parts.
Among the aforementioned patents, U.S. Pat. No. 6,113,148, issued to Koranda et al on Sep. 5, 2000, discloses a shopping reminder system which includes a label having an indicator element to be peeled from the outside container's label and attached to a shopping list. However, it is only a shopping reminder system and not a depletion level quantity indicator to notify the consumer the product needs to be replaced.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,282,807 of Johnson, issued Sep. 4, 2001, Johnson invented a rolled web in combination with a dispenser with gauge indicia applied to surface in a diagonal pattern along the length of the web indicating how much of the rail is remaining. However, the indicia does not have the depletion notification urgency element since the pattern runs throughout the entire product. Also, between the gauge indicia and the laser embossed pattern the manufacturing costs would be high and subsequently passed on to the consumer. The product quantity indicator tab is more accurate, and less expensive than the prior art i.e. and such different solved problems are recited in the claims. The indicia is not removable.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,161,249 of Dashow, Dashow's web product with marker and method of manufacture are not removable to allow the consumer to purchase more. The adhesive on both sides of the bicycle tape (web product) indicate that the marker will notify the user, and to be used to adhere the tape to the new tape. Also, the marker is placed throughout the entire width of the web product, which would increase costs to the consumer.
In the dental floss indicator U.S. Pat. No. 5,365,874 of Dorfman, the indicator is not removable to allow the consumer to be notified to replace the dental floss before its depletion in other locations other than when only flossing their teeth. Also, many consumers are hesitant about hygiene standards regarding such dyes used on or in their products.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,368,188 of Twardowski, folded product individual sheets include a visual indicator at the location, which should be removed by the first user with indicator for facilitating removal. The art is not actually removable, but an indicator of a particular spot where a consumer will pull the sheet from.
The aforementioned prior art references take mutually exclusive paths and reach different solutions to a similar problem. Since, they teach away from each other, it would not be logical to combine them. Those skilled in the art would find it physically impossible to combine the references in the manner suggested. If combined the references would produce an inoperative combination.
In U.S. Pat. No. 2,853,042 of Rifkin, magnetic tape indexing means the principal object of the invention is to provide new and improved indexing means for magnetic recording. The invention is not to indicate depletion levels. The tabs or guides may be used to splice pieces of tape together. The tabs may be removed or left on the magnetic indexing tape when reusing the tape.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,507,425 of Ziglioli, is a stapling machine which has marking on part of a constant tension spring visible from the exterior through a window provided for this purpose. Unfortunately, windows are expensive for manufacturers and therefore to consumers. Also, windows are not accurate means of showing depletion levels and this type of numbered ribbon would not work on substrates or web rolled products.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, are seen to describe the instant invention as claimed.
As all the prior art has been listed the large number of references must be combined to meet the invention, this is the evidence of non-obviousness. Even if combined the references would not meet the claims.
Each reference is complete and functional in itself, so there would be no reason to use parts from or add or substitute parts to any reference.
An element of prior art lacks any suggestion that the references should be modified in a manner required to meet the claims. In light of shortcomings of indicators in prior art it is desirable to have an indicator tab that is simple to apply to a product while being readily understood by a common consumer to remove at the predetermined level. It also is advantageous to have the indicator tab applied to the product in a noninvasive manner.
The present invention overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art, while providing above-mentioned desirable features for product depletion indication and of consumer incentive with the UPC barcode coupon to readily replace the exact consumer products.
The present invention is classified in a crowded art of which none of the prior art is able to solve the problem of product depletion with a removable tab, therefore a small step forward should be regarded as significant.